Could a Street-Legal DeltaWing be the Most Fuel-Efficient Vehicle Ever?

In 2012, a strange, unique race car was unveiled at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France. With a long, slim design, and odd proportions, the DeltaWing made headlines almost instantly. The DeltaWing was designed as an IndyCar, but now, several years later, the DeltaWing Racing Team has announced plans to make their funky looking car available for consumers in the coming years.

And if what DeltaWing is saying is true, this street-legal concept would be the most fuel-efficient combustion engine vehicle of all time. DeltaWing claims that their speculative road-ready car would be able to get an insane 74 miles per gallon, making the vehicle in a class of its own when it comes to non-electric fuel economy.

While the car hasn’t been mass produced, so there’s no objective analysis of DeltaWing’s claimed numbers, the company made their research public, showing that what they say may very well be valid – and very impressive.

Due to the car’s incredibly unusual construction – a broad back end that comes to a point at the front – the DeltaWing is built unlike any other vehicle around right now. The DeltaWing team believes the car would be able to get 74 miles per gallon on highway driving, and could average an insane 57 miles per gallon overall.

The DeltaWing’s impressive fuel economy does not mean it would be a slow, boring car, though. As you might have gathered, this vehicle started as a race car, and even with the assumed specs on the road-legal vehicle – a 1.4 liter engine putting out 138 horsepower – the DeltaWing would be plenty quick and powerful.

In fact, DeltaWing claims that even in a 4-seater with just 85 horsepower, the car could go 0 to 60 in just about 6 seconds, and that the car could top out at about 130 miles per hour. Not bad for a car that can get 57 miles per gallon on average.

So, with all the preliminary research and testing completed, DeltaWing intends to go forward and begin beta production on 2-seater and 4-seater models of the car. Time will tell if the vehicles live up to the hype, but if the numbers that are currently being claimed are accurate, the DeltaWing will take its place on the throne as the most fuel-efficient car ever built with a combustion engine. Stay tuned!